Taking Leave during term time

[jennyd197]

Hi All,

My sister in law is a teaching assistant in a secondary school.

She recently requested a days unpaid special leave to take her child to a national sporting competition they had qualified for.

This is the first type of leave request she has ever asked for during term time knowing that this type of leave is granted on a discretionary basis.

She would rather do this, be honest, than lie and take the day off sick.

The leave was refused but she still continued to take the day off as there was no other option to take the child to the competition.

The school have now invited her to a disciplinary hearing.

Do you think refusing the leave was an unreasonable request in the first place - especially since other colleagues have been granted ad hoc days for various reasons.

There is no issue with the quality of her work or history of other leave requests or sickness.

Any advice of arguments she should put forward in the disciplinary?

TIA!

I think it's fairly standard teachers and people who work in schools aren't allowed leave during term time for non emergency situations. She could have arranged for another parent to take the child, another family member, the child's father, etc, to take the kid, no?

*She would rather do this, be honest, than lie and take the day off sick.

The leave was refused but she still continued to take the day off as there was no other option to take the child to the competition.*

So she did what she wanted anyway

My children don’t get to go to anything if it happens on a school day, that’s the deal with a school job. Disciplinary totally justified imo

It’s gross misconduct and I’ve known someone lose their job over a similar issue. That was a week rather than a day, but the principle was the same. They’d asked for discretionary leave, which was refused and then they just took the time off anyway. Incidentally, that was a teaching assistant too. She’s been very foolish and needs to contact her union ASAP. If she’d spoken to them after the leave was refused they’d have been able to advise her that it was very unwise to not go to work on the day. I would hope, with an otherwise good record and no previous disciplinary issues, that she’ll get a formal warning on this occasion but I don’t think she should go in with the argument that they were unreasonable to say no to a request for special leave. And she definitely shouldn’t say that she thought this was better than calling in sick, as that’s also misconduct. I think she needs to acknowledge that she’s fucked up.

It doesn't matter now whether they were unreasonable in refusing her leave, this is the issue:

The leave was refused but she still continued to take the day off as there was no other option to take the child to the competition.

She was specifically told she couldn't take the day off but did so anyway. Presumably they had their reasons for refusing so she would have caused problems for them.

I think she's going to have to apologise and show that she understands the reason for the disciplinary rather than trying to argue that she's in the right somehow.

@CarrieBlue

*She would rather do this, be honest, than lie and take the day off sick.

The leave was refused but she still continued to take the day off as there was no other option to take the child to the competition.*

So she did what she wanted anyway

My children don’t get to go to anything if it happens on a school day, that’s the deal with a school job. Disciplinary totally justified imo

So you'd not take your child to a hospital appointment or the funeral of an immediate family member? Not take them to a major audition? Or exam?

Personally I think the school were callous. I've got a day off booked in at the end of a term to take my son to an international sports competition. I know a headteacher going to the same competition who will be doing the same. I sometimes leave early on a Friday to take him to national events. Anybody at my school would be allowed to take time for something at that sort of level. It's not like a holiday and you have no control over the dates.

I suppose there is not much she can do now though, other than apologise.

So you'd not take your child to a hospital appointment or the funeral of an immediate family member? Not take them to a major audition? Or exam?

If I’d been told no, then no I wouldn’t. An immediate family member’s funeral would qualify for compassionate leave but wider than that then I wouldn’t be able to. Hospital appointments would need to be rearranged if possible or id ask a grandparent perhaps. Auditions or exams would have to be someone else taking them (and I’d probably not want the child to miss school either even though time off for exams can be authorised for the child).

But the real issue is that the OPs sister-in-law asked, was told no and then did it anyway and now has to face the consequences. You’ve clearly asked and had that time off agreed, so totally different.

@2reefsin30knots I agree with you that the school were a bit harsh in not allowing her to go..... bearing in mind that we don't know the whole story!
In my school they'll usually work with you to find a way to let you go.
However, that's not the issue now, the issue is that she was told no then went ahead and took the day off anyway.

My sibling & partner are both teachers, as was my parent and they can never ever take time off for a non emergency in term time.

They always ask another family member/parents of another child etc to take their child if there's something significant in term time.

It's the biggest downside of teaching. To be fair though, out of 356 days a year school staff aren't working for at least 164 of them, (52 x 2 weekend days plus 12 x 5 weekdays), so its expected you fit your personal life into those.

To be fair though, out of 356 days a year school staff aren't working for at least 164 of them, (52 x 2 weekend days plus 12 x 5 weekdays), so its expected you fit your personal life into those.

*aren’t working in school

I think this would be a disciplinary in other professions too. It’s ironic that she’d have for away with it, most likely, had she lied and called in ‘sick’. It’s a shame the school couldn’t have been more flexible - and then people wonder why people leave teaching!